13 designer gifts under $30 for the 2013 holiday season

It’s that time of year again, when you have to think about what you or your design-minded friends and family might like to receive for the holidays. So we’ve assembled a list, 13 gifts under $30! Take a look through and see if there’s something you want to get for that someone-special.

1. Super Graphic: A Visual Guide to the Comic Book Universe

Tim Leong (one of Wired magazine’s art directors) has created a book chock-full of fantastic infographics all focusing on one of our favorite topics (at least here at 99designs) — superheroes. It’s an amazing display of data design, so even if this kind of mythology isn’t necessarily at the top of your list, this book should be.

2. Font Me Typography Coffee Mug

Two of our favorite things together! Typography and coffee. This ridiculously convenient mug details many of the fundamental facts any designer has got to know about type. And best of all, it’s literally on-hand! So any time you forget something about a font-face, all you have to do is take another look at your mug. Plus, it comes in a bunch of fun colors.

3. Stickies memo: Cats

4. Skillshare Classes

Skillshare offers a ton of great beginning design classes, online. If there’s any type of graphic design you’ve always wanted to try out for the first time but didn’t know how, this is the perfect place to do it. Some of the ones we’re eyeing:

5. Spotify Premium Account

Spotify might be the easiest way to access music these days, and it’s certainly how most of us in the office access our Phil Collins. And while Spotify does offer a free account, the reasonable $10 a month Premium Account is probably the best way to go. No commercials, accessibility to music offline and availability on all of your devices. It’s not exactly a new service, but if you haven’t bitten the bullet and started using it already, this is the time.

6. Sky Planters

Give your workspace a quick spruce with Sky Planters, pots designed to hang upside down. They allow your plants to continue to grow — but downward! Sure to inspire any designer that likes to turn traditional thinking on its head.

7. Subscription to Juxtapoz Magazine

This SF-based magazine is one of our favorites for great cutting edge art, design, pop culture, music. Not a surprise, as they’ve even featured one of our favorite 99designers in their online magazine! There’s really no shortage of inspiration here, so if you want to mix it up every month, give it a try.

8. Sugru multi color pack of 8

This crazy rubber helps you fix just about anything in your house. It’s flexible and adheres to most other materials, and as a bonus comes in lots of fun colors. We dare you to test it out and show us the crazy things that you can use it to repair.

10. Japanese Cast-Iron Bottle Openers

11. Hammock Pack

Want to take a vacation but don’t have the time or dough? Grab a subscription to Hammock Pack, Your doorstep getaway. Each month features a different theme, collecting products from food, to beauty, and more to give you that feeling that you’re getting away from the ordinary, even if you haven’t stepped out of the house.

12. Pixel Ruler

This stainless steel ruler will help with easy sketching for web and app designers. It indicates pixels, as well as traditional mobile, tablet and widescreen sizing so you can sketch your heart accurately away before moving to the screen.

13. 2014 Typography Calendar

Keep track of all of your design projects with this calendar by Studio Hinrichs, in a new font every month. And these are not just your ordinary fonts, as Studio Hinrichs called on members of the Alliance Graphique Internationale to nominate some of their favorite typefaces for the project.

Which of these do you want to receive for the holidays? Let us know in the comments!

The author

Kaitlyn is part of the Community Team at 99designs.com. She grew up in Boulder, CO and went to school at Northwestern University in Chicago. When she's not blogging, she spends her time having adventures and being generally creative. She's all about having new experiences as often as possible!